The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the donation of next-generation sequencing equipment to six reference laboratories in five countries in Latin America. These countries constitute the International Consortium on Acute Leukemia (ICAL), a clinical network supported by the...
Blowing air from a fan into the face of patients with advanced cancer experiencing breathlessness—and other nonpharmacologic interventions—may offer symptomatic relief, according to new research directed by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators and published in JAMA Oncology.1 In...
Following an extensive national search, Stephanie Halene, MD, PhD, has been appointed Chief of Hematology at Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. “Dr. Halene has served with distinction as Interim Chief, leading the section...
Over the past year (January to December 2020), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to several novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in oncology and hematology. A brief review of new approvals appears here. For complete prescribing information for ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has announced the recipient of the ACCC 2020 Clinical Research Award: Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology, Chief of Medical Oncology, and Associate Director for Translational Research at the Yale Cancer...
On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selinexor (Xpovio) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. The FDA granted selinexor accelerated...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved relugolix (Orgovyx) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced prostate cancer. “Today’s approval marks the first oral drug in this class and it may eliminate some patients’ need to visit the clinic for treatments that require...
On December 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rituximab-arrx (Riabni), a biosimilar to rituximab (Rituxan), for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis), and...
Sibylle Loibl, MD, of the German Breast Group, discusses the first phase III results from the PENELOPE-B study of palbociclib combined with endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative primary breast cancer who are at high risk for relapse after neoadjuvant...
Joyce V. Lee, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses data that suggest the MYC oncogene may indicate whether a patient with triple-negative breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy. Dr. Lee’s study is the first to describe MYC downregulation of MHC-I and to demonstrate...
Findings from a propensity-matched survival analysis presented by van Breeschoten et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Immuno-Oncology Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 37P) suggest that patients with advanced melanoma and a BRAF V600 mutation derive an enhanced survival benefit...
Roisin M. Connolly, MD, of University College Cork, discusses phase III results from the E2112 trial, which showed exemestane plus entinostat did not improve survival in aromatase inhibitor–resistant advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS4-02).
Sintilimab provided superior clinical benefit compared to docetaxel in patients with previously treated, advanced and/or metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to phase III study findings presented by Shi et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for...
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews six important abstracts on CAR T-cell treatments for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): successful 24-hour manufacture of CAR T-cell therapy; ALLCAR19, a novel fast-off rate therapy; donor-derived CD19-targeted...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the CONTESSA study, which showed that an all-oral regimen of tesetaxel plus a reduced dose of capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival compared with capecitabine alone in patients with...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, discusses phase III data from the ASCENT study of the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan vs chemotherapy in patients with previously treated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS3-06).
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses study findings that showed mindfulness meditation and survivorship education may effectively reduce depression and related symptoms such as fatigue and sleep disturbance, which pose serious threats to younger women’s...
Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the development and validation of a tool that integrates the 21-gene recurrence score and clinicopathologic features to individualize prognosis for distant recurrence and predict chemotherapy...
Although the exact incidence of treatment-related lymphedema among cancer survivors is unknown—most likely due to its prolonged latency period—it can be a lifelong chronic side effect that negatively impacts survivors’ quality of life. Although the condition is often linked to treatment for breast...
Tebentafusp is a novel bispecific molecule consisting of an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 effector that can redirect T cells to target gp100-positive cells. The agent showed clinical benefit, including target lesion reduction, in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma,...
Nadia Harbeck, MD, of the University of Munich, discusses the first outcome data from the phase III ADAPT HR+/HER– trial, which combined both static and dynamic biomarkers to optimize the adjuvant therapy approach in patients with intermediate- or high-risk luminal early breast cancer (Abstract...
Farhad Ravandi, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his expert perspective on key treatment studies in acute myeloid leukemia on the use of gilteritinib, consolidation chemotherapy, venetoclax, cladribine, azacitidine, quizartinib, decitabine, and CPX-351 (Session 616...
Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, reviews four important studies of treatment advances in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): nilotinib vs dasatinib in newly diagnosed disease; final 5-year results from the BFORE trial on bosutinib vs imatinib for chronic phase...
Hassan Awada, MD, of the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, discusses the use of newer machine-learning techniques to help decipher a set of prognostic subgroups that could predict survival, thus potentially improving on traditional methods and moving acute myeloid leukemia into ...
Patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer and postsurgical circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) positivity have high risk of disease recurrence following cystectomy and experienced improved clinical outcomes with adjuvant atezolizumab as compared to patients undergoing observation. These...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter, fully at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is a rapid, lateral-flow antigen test, a type of test that runs a liquid sample along a...
Cancer cases in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) have risen by 30% during the past 4 decades, with rates of kidney cancer increasing at the greatest rate, according to findings published by Scott et al in JAMA Network Open. The team said further research into screening, diagnosis, and treatment...
Mortality rates after cancer surgery declined for Black as well as White patients during a recent 10-year period, although the mortality gap between the two groups did not narrow, according to new research published by Miranda Lam, MD, MBA, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. The findings present...
Many patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may be cured by autologous stem cell transplant, but as many as half eventually relapse. New research presented by Reid Merryman, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition suggests...
Patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have pleural effusion, especially those requiring pleural evacuation, experienced poorer survival when treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to findings presented by Epaillard et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology...
Adding an immune checkpoint inhibitor to a standard chemotherapy regimen for patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer did not affect patients’ ability to perform day-to-day activities more than treatment with chemotherapy alone, according to research presented by Elizabeth...
On December 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 in individuals aged 16 and older. The EUA allows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the United...
The phase II ZUMA-12 trial found that axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, is a safe and effective therapy for patients with high-risk large B-cell lymphoma. These results were presented by Sattva S. Neelapu, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 ...
New research showed that behavioral interventions—mindfulness meditation and survivorship education classes—may be effective in reducing depressive symptoms in younger breast cancer survivors. This patient population often experiences the highest levels of depression, stress, and fatigue, which may ...
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, offers his expert views on five treatment studies in mantle cell lymphoma focusing on the next-generation BTK inhibitor LOXO-305; lisocabtagene maraleucel; minimal residual disease monitoring following autologous stem cell...
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase II results from a single-center study that explored a novel approach for high-risk patients with mantle cell lymphoma. Among patients with TP53 wild-type disease, the data suggested this treatment was effective...
In her recent study, Debra A. Pratt, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, showed that when breast cancer treatment using any of three modalities takes longer than 38 weeks, it is associated with a decrease in survival, regardless of the receptor status. Patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant...
Chirag Shah, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the impact of DCISionRT testing on radiation therapy recommendations for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ following lumpectomy. His study found that despite using traditional favorable-risk criteria, radiation recommendations were changed in ...
Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, of the University of Athens, discusses data from the phase III APOLLO study, which evaluated the use of subcutaneous daratumumab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone, vs pomalidomide and dexamethasone alone, in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma...
Ari M. Melnick, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses the BCL10 mutation in patients with activated B-cell–like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and his study results which showed that the mutation should be considered as a biomarker for ibrutinib resistance so that alternative targeted treatments ...
The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) has announced the creation of the Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, Endowed Scholars Fund. Established in honor of Dr. Rosenberg, this fund recognizes his many contributions to the field by supporting investigators who are emerging leaders in...
Sara Federico, MD, associate member of the Department of Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has received the 2020 Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This award recognizes and supports outstanding mid-career clinical...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the 2020 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize to Toshio Suda, MD, PhD, of the National University of Singapore and Japan’s International Research Center for Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, for his outstanding contributions to the field of...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the 2020 William Dameshek Prize to Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD, of Columbia University Institute for Cancer Genetics in New York, for his outstanding research on the impact of NOTCH1 mutations on T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). “I am...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Michelle Le Beau, PhD, of the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Maria Domenica Cappellini, MD, of the University of Milan in Italy, with the 2020 Henry M. Stratton Medal for their...
Atlantic Health System Cancer Care recently announced that fellowship-trained medical oncologist Shilpi Gupta, MD, has joined Morristown Medical Center’s comprehensive breast health program, where her focus is breast oncology and research. Dr. Gupta is on staff at Atlantic Hematology Oncology at...
A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS from Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a 5-year, $4.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a research center to investigate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- and human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers in Africa. The...
CITY OF HOPE ORANGE COUNTY recently announced the appointment of cancer researcher and clinician Edward S. Kim, MD, MBA, as Senior Vice President and Vice Physician-in-Chief at City of Hope and Orange County Physician-in-Chief. “Dr. Kim has a depth and breadth of cancer expertise that is well...
New York University (NYU) Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center recently appointed Abraham Chachoua, MD, as the new Director of Perlmutter Cancer Center’s Lung Cancer Center. Dr. Chachoua currently serves as the Jay and Isabel Fine Professor of Oncology and Professor of Urology at NYU...